To boost female participation and youth appeal of the Winter Olympics the IOC Executive Board agreed on the event programme and athlete quotas for the 2018 Games in PyeongChang, adding curling mixed doubles (M&W); speed skating mass start (M/W); Alpine skiing nations team event (M&W); and snowboard big air (M/W) to the program. “The changes reflect the continued evolution of the Winter Olympic programme and build on the success of recent editions of the Games. They also build on the reforms outlined in Olympic Agenda 2020 which aim to create more flexibility in the programme of the Olympic Games,” states an IOC press release, also emphasizing that the Olympic Agenda 2020 has “created a new framework of considerations, including the introduction of a recommended cap of approximately 2,900 athletes and 100 events for the Olympic Winter Games. While providing a sustainable model for the hosting and organisation of the Games, this framework also limits the ability of the IOC to support all new event proposals put forward by International Federations (IFs).” The EB also decided to remove the snowboard parallel slalom (M/W) allowing for snowboard big air to enter the programme, in agreement with the International Ski Federation.
The new programme will allow for a record number of female events, a record number of mixed events, a record number of female athletes, and a projected increase in the overall female participation rates at the Olympic Winter Games, reflecting the implementation of Olympic Agenda 2020. The PyeongChang 2018 event programme review was based on IF requests that were made to the IOC prior to the approval of Olympic Agenda 2020.
This article was republished with permission from the original publisher, The Sport Intern.